Chapter 636 – Gravity.

“Agni, stay still.”

“Wo…”

Just as the ruby wolf tried to open his mouth, his master grabbed his snout.

“No, keep it down.”

Agni was not happy, yet he understood why the order was given. Several people carrying torches were walking past them, all heading toward the lake that he and Roland had just cleared of monster parts.

‘Did they find out already? These tier threes cannot be underestimated.’

Roland had spent quite some time underwater, fishing and clearing out multiple lakes. He had even returned to the first one and confirmed that the ores reappeared after a week. It was exactly as he expected. The resource regenerated, which meant he could continue farming it forever. Each lake held only a small amount of the metal, but its value made the effort more than worthwhile.

The ore was at least ten times more expensive per kilogram than the elemental ores and mithril mined in the older dungeon. While the old method was still more profitable in terms of sheer quantity, harvesting abyssal star steel was not particularly difficult. The real problem was the adventurers who were beginning to notice that something was off.

A day earlier, they had started moving around at night, searching the area and studying every detail. They quickly noticed that a large number of monsters had vanished. Because of this they began watching the lakes in small groups. They seemed convinced the cause was a rare monster that had appeared and was feeding on everything, an apex predator created by some kind of dungeon error. Although such a phenomenon was even rarer than a dungeon break, it was still possible. In truth, there was no monster at all. Only Roland. And he wondered how long it would be before they caught him in the act.

‘I might not be able to continue like this… The Guild Master should have prepared what I asked him for by now. Perhaps it is time to try that plan.’

What Roland feared most was not being discovered at the lakes but being unable to explain why he was in the dungeon in the first place. If they found him, they would ask questions about his identity, and he could not allow that. If anyone learned that the High Knight Commander of Albrook was inside the Isgard dungeon without going through the proper channels, chaos would follow. He had to avoid recognition at all costs, and there was only one way to ensure that. He needed a new identity. One that no one would recognise.

‘I have enough ore for a new suit. It should be enough to keep others away from me.’

After many fishing trips, he had collected enough material for his next project, and he wanted to finish it before returning here again.

“Come, Agni. We move now.”

He whispered to his wolf, and the two of them began sneaking away once several adventurers had passed. With the help of his hidden golems and the map they maintained, he avoided every patrol with ease. Fortunately, the adventurers were not trained soldiers and did not seem very invested in their work, so reaching his hideout was not difficult.

“Woof?”

“Yes, you can speak now.”

“Worf!”

Once he was safely back underground, he turned his attention to the display panel. The range of his map had actually shrunk since his last visit, a result of several mages now living in the stronghold above. For the moment, he had created a system in which the golems entered a dormant state whenever a spellcaster left the adventurer base. This made further exploration tiresome, but he had already come up with a plan to solve that problem.

‘No one said the sensors had to remain on the ground, but getting them higher will not be easy.’

While the task would be troublesome, his new approach would let him observe everything from a safe distance with no chance of being discovered. The only real obstacle was the assembly process, yet after spending multiple weeks in this dungeon, he had managed to devise a safe method.

“Let’s head back, Agni.”

With the monster parts and ore secured in his spatial storage, he stepped through the gate. As always, Agni went straight to the elevator so he could head outside and sleep in his wolf house. Their adventures usually lasted through the entire night, and the wolf was far less tolerant of sleep deprivation than his master.

“Now then. Bernir has failed three times in a row, but he is making progress.”

Once he returned, he reviewed Bernir’s situation. His interest in the field of soul smithing was finally taking shape. It was a discipline few understood, and even the dwarves of the union held little information about it. For them, it was a rarity, far more uncommon than becoming an enchantsmith or a runesmith.

‘From the trial slides, it appeared that soul-enhanced weapons carried persistent effects and required no mana to use.’

Based on Bernir’s testimony and the images from within the trial, he deduced a few things. Most likely, all these soul effects acted as passive enhancements. They either strengthened something for the wielder or inflicted a debilitating effect on the target when struck. At first, he assumed the effects were limited to phantom-type enemies, but there was more to it than that.

He doubted he would discover the truth until Bernir passed the trial and they could examine his creations. There was one person who could clarify the matter, yet he refused to consult her. The last time he had visited her hut, she had treated him like a test subject, and he barely escaped with help. It was far safer to uncover the answers on their own, even if the progress would come slowly.

“I’ll take a nap later.”

Roland stretched his shoulders, feeling the dull stiffness settle in after hours spent fishing. The dungeon smell still clung to his clothes, and he wanted nothing more than a bath followed by rest. However, there was no point in going to bed now because his mind was already fixed on the task ahead.

“Very well then, let us get to it.”

He walked deeper into his workshop. The soundproof doors slid open and revealed the chamber reserved for precision forging. It was a kind of sanctum where he could focus on his craft and forget about outside troubles, at least, for a short while. With multiple minds at work, he often overanalyzed things. Even while speaking with others, part of his thoughts always drifted back toward projects or countermeasures.

“I wonder if I will ever be able to relax.”

There were few places where he could cool his head and silence his thoughts. At least while crafting, he did not need to. His attention shifted naturally toward handling metal and striking with his hammer at the correct spots in a perfect rhythm. On one of the reinforced workbenches lay the new ingots. There were three in total. They were made from abyssal star steel infused with powdered umbrium until the alloy darkened to a deep black.

“One should be enough to complete the rest of the gauntlet and then test it.”

This was not the first time he had worked with this metal, since he had already shaped parts of his new armor. The material was difficult to handle, and few blacksmiths in the world could work it alone. Even so, the techniques remained much the same. After heating the metal sufficiently, he only needed to hammer it into the correct shape. With a proper schematic in mind, the process felt no more complicated than assembling furniture once all the pieces were prepared.

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These ingots were refined, stable, and ready to be shaped. The Umbrium had blended perfectly into the alloy and gave it a faint dark glow whenever mana flowed through it. He picked one up, and the moment its weight settled into his palm, the runes on his smithing gauntlet flickered. A spell was activated and poured intense heat into the ingot until it turned bright orange. Normally, an ingot would be heated up in a forge, but for this particular alloy, it needed a constant source of heat.

“Heavier than mithril, but that should not be a problem.”

He set it on the anvil, which had been made with orichalcum to dampen the mana released during forging. A normal anvil would have shattered after only a few swings, but this one was built to withstand his increased strength and mana. He activated the forging circle carved into the ground. Brilliant arcs of silver-blue mana snapped to life and converged on the anvil.

The orichalcum repelled the flow as intended, and the mana focused directly on the alloy. Abyssal star steel could not be shaped with fire alone. It required rhythmic mana pressure, manawave resonance, and constant guidance.

“Sebastian, record the process as always. Adjust the magic circle to fit the mana resonance.”

He reached for the forging hammer he had assembled recently. It had been created for this sole purpose and was made from the same basic ore with additives that encouraged crafting rather than combat. It was a thick-headed tool designed to endure strikes that bordered on mana explosions. He channeled energy into it and began to work.

*Clang.*

The metal didn’t budge.

*Clang.*